Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-08-14

TIE Hest Gigantic Hedge.
Podge en- Reesrd.


A mass Of aaistniss and lnac@
eurAelss Ainlost Beycnd
comprehension
voissa oe wrakh and iust in6iRnaaion
have HIlsd he air ever sincs the mos
cnlpabss u ell tax rsin Nsfs sOmpistsa
By CuF 90 called Assessor and subieetea
% he inspsesian and s1aninasion ct an
anxioasly Enquiring pablia q taxpayers
The new tsx rolls sre regular sravssay
On justice and 9 crying evil. and the
pnblIs esndsunssion o. them Il strona.
unqualified and hearty. In The historic
annals Of King county and IN the vol
.umes Of tax.roIls h the county's keep
ing which stretch back for nearly
twenty years. there i not a. bad > SCI,
and Il scarcely ssems possible that >
worss hodgepodae Of nonssnsical a.
semment could have been folsssd upen
Us, II The street. chain-Rang were put 81
work 70 turn % out tax-roils Tor the
year 1887.
For . solid week or more The County
Commissioners and City Cocnen have
besn struggling, In despair and dlsRust,
With the innumerable gfo8s and inex-
cuaabie errors Of commission and onis-
Eion, committed Independently b. tbs
Assessor, or flowing through him
stEaieht from the janus Rochester alb
straet ordered especially BY the County
CommissionsFs. Il Il safe 20 predict, IN
TIE face Of the weeks experience which
ths public have had With the results Of
the Iata assessments, that the 500 paid
Qua for the miserable Rochester abstract
aud the irregularities and mistakes Of
the Assessor outside Of that will cosl
King county surely not less than $4,000
IN hard gold osin and may cost IL several
hundred thousand.
Scarcely man in King Ooasty but il
mad as q hornet at the manner IN which
be has been treated as to his property
on the new TAX rolls, both in the listing
and IN the assessment Of it. Far better
would Il be u bu1l up or throw away
the late tax rolls, and & N into flinders
the Rochester abstract, and employ q
nav set of competent men to canvass
the county oVes eEesn and prepare 9
systematic, uniform, harmonious and
proper assessment, than 10 subject the
community TO the wretct actual state
Of things, and 10 tbs enormous expense
attendant az % what has 9sn air -dy
perpSiEateo By the new { 1-ty In poWeR,
aa well 90 what must be done IN lauda-
BILE attempts at 9 neceC ,arily disiointed
and inefficient amend nent OF the tar
rolls; and to the be IVY loses which
must fall upon our county from iis in
ability TO enforce the collection Of
taxes or delinquent taxes erroneou6ly
ASKED. And the expense and great
meatal VERY 30 which taxpayers have
already BEEN pat the past week or more
by these awful tan rolls and abstracts.
10 their tedious endf svors 60 straignten
out their Lists Of prog sFty, and there
after TO get justice done them In the a..
sessment Of ii, have tssn amply suf.
| hcieut to kesp them on thofns; while
all this amounts practically 10 nothing
compared with what the taxpayers must
still undergo in the year and years 60
come from this handiweFk Of an In
/ competsnk asr sgsor linked to the work
of an absolutely VOL shless abstract
al Of which condemnation was faith.
| cred and nnrtured by band OF awfnliy
misguided County Commissioners, e
/ their everlasting discTedist,
A silk purse cannst be made out Of 9
| sow's ear, nor does Il seem that an As
SCISSOR or an Abstractor Of Titles can b
made out Of the present dominant
party.
The p0blic Is nov awake 10 the fact
| that the Assessors Off e is the most i'm.
| portant, perhaps, of all county Offices;
certainly IL Il fully as important as any
such. We need, and Il Ia indispensably
requisite that We have therein, man Of
| education, good sense and sound, pFac-
teal Judgement on values; from IL lows
our annual revenue, and without it We
cannot have continued municipal, eoun-
~ or Territorial existence.
Political parties are in no mood te
have even their chosen candidates and
adherenta strike blunderingly home
| without common sense, or system, OF
| Judgment, or discretion. at the dearest
and most cherished Interests-after life,
liberty, family and kin--in the commu-
nifty.
The report Is we'll vouched for that
| the Assessor relied upon the Rochester
Il ~
1 der from the County Commissioners
90 much the worse for them.
| Il 10 also q vell-estabiished fact that
the Assessor hlmeslf placed but few, u
any, values upon real estate or personal
property, but left such values TO be
placed BY his snbofdinates or deputies
helteE-skelteF. This was all wrong, and
accounts for the utter lack OF system in
values on the tax rolls, for which he. 90
chief factor BY election. must stand the
responsibility and the consequences.
Why the Assessor should assume the
royal prerogative Of destroying or Ret
ting away with sworn individual detail
sheets or lists OF property, ~ vas done
In instances, because fofsooth they
failed 10 agree with the Rochester list
Of oWneEs-which vas the wrong list
much oftener than the detail sheets
wefe-is beyond our comprehension; a.
also beyond our comprehension are bis
eRrone6ns eTasuree on or his erroneous
additions 10 the detail sheets In many
eases. u Is nov known, moreover, that
many thousands Of dollars In improve
ments upon real estate have been omit
ted from the tax rolls aliogstheF, while
wild land has been assessed for build
iEgs and improvements that never had
an existence upon IL. The excessive
ness and want Of uniformity in ASSESS
ment Ia exemplihed by one instance,
namely: Mrs. YesleF for the east half Of
the YesieT donation claim comprising
100 aares, was assessed $500; Mr.. kaut-
mans eleven acres not far away we're
assessed three thousand and odd dol
lars. There are very Numerous other
instances which have already occurred.
Old long dead mortgages - dead BY
lapse Of time. or foreclosure. or pay
nent-were al reiieiously taxed, except
what the copyists failed 10 get upon the
roll.
The Assessors assessed mortgages
from 1854 up-thsy assessed conditional
penal b0nds, or at least enc Riven years
ago; they assessed logeers liens and
other liens, ignoring the law that action
to enforce them must be brought
within q specified time, which 10 short,
and Ia most Gases vas long past; they
assessed scrip; they assessed my prop
A.